DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Russia will face any "necessary actions and sanctions'' after investigators alleged that football players had suspicious drug-test samples covered up as part of a wider doping scandal in the 2018 World Cup host nation, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said Wednesday.
Five suspicious samples in the Russian men's under-17 and under-21 national teams in 2013 and 2014 were exposed in emails released earlier this month by the World Anti-Doping Agency, accompanying investigator Richard McLaren's report into Russian doping.
Then-sports minister Vitaly Mutko, who is also in charge of Russia's World Cup preparations, has been accused of covering up a doping case in the Russian league.